Phillis Wheatley was one of the most influential writers in America during her time. She was born in 1753 from Gambia and sold to a Boston commercialist by the name of John Wheatley in 1761 when she was was brought to New England. Her health was always poor and she was sent to New England because the Southern colonies demanded heavy labor while New England usually used their slaves domestically. The Wheatley family was looking for someone similar to a maid and Phillis was sold at the tender age of seven years old.Wheatley was given an education through the Wheatley family son, Nathanial, and had a voracious appetite for learning. At the age of nine, she could fluently read and write english and continued her studies in latin, greek and the bible. This was highly unusual at a time where slavery was the common norm and slaves were determined as lesser beings. When Wheatley was thirteen, she stated that she wished for more of a challenge academically. At that young age, her poetry career started as she admired modern American poets during that time. Her first poem was actually titled "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin" yet what brought her towards fame was the Whitefield elegy in 1771. In that same year, Phillis traveled to London, England with Nathaniel, in hopes of addressing her asthma. By then she was well known and celebrated by Baron George Lyttelton, Sir Brook Watson, John Thornton and Benjamin Franklin.
Phillis continued to write poetry but had great difficulty publishing any of her works prior to her trip to London and for the rest of her life. Thirty nine of her poems were published in "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" but she died, unable to publish a second volume of her poems at the age of thirty one. Through the edition of "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral", audience members learned that Wheatley preferred to write in heroic couplet form (heroic form is the overarching group if iambic pentameter and is used for epics). This was shown through the topic of death that was shown in almost one third of her poems. Wheatley's best known poem is called "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and incorporate elements of her Christian face while simultaneously fighting for equality for slaves during the Great Awakening by stating that the Africans also followed the Christian faith.
In contrast to what Wheatley represents, many of her poems celebrates the successes of America. In 1776, she wrote a poem that supported George Washington. The president responded by inviting her to visit him in Massachusetts.
Wheatley married in 1778 to a free black, John Peters, and had three children. Due to the Revolutionary war, Wheatley's remaining works were left unpublished and many were lost. She passed away in 1784 from long abuse and poor health alone in a boarding house. Wheatley was vital to American literature because she showed that blacks could be intellectuals and have great artistic capabilities. While the end of her life is sad, her contributions to the anti slavery movement were greatly appreciated.
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/phillis-wheatley
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley
https://www.biography.com/people/phillis-wheatley-9528784
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p12.html
Madison, I thought this was a great topic to write about- as you often do not see a woman of color defying social norms in the time period that Wheatley did. I was wondering, after traveling the world and gaining such an extensive education- what was the reason that she died "from long abuse and poor health alone in a boarding house"? I also thought it was interesting that you gave a brief explanation of her poetry style- especially the impacts of Christianity on her writings. I was surprised that she connected Christianity and slavery in an effort to stop it on a religious and moral level.
ReplyDelete